1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to articles of adornment such as jewelry, and more particularly to a jewelry items, such as a necklace or bracelet, and more particularly to jewelry items or other items of adornment, having an electrically powered light-emitting device for providing an illumination effect.
2. Description of Related Art
The market for jewelry is substantial and diverse. As a result, there exist a wide variety of jewelry designs. For example, jewelry designs span a large range from simple to complex, and from expensive fine jewelry pieces to less expensive costume jewelry pieces. Among these designs are several lighted jewelry pieces including illuminated earrings and lighted pendants.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,965, issued to Kamara, discloses a necklace having an illuminated medallion with a conductor loop coated with non-conductive material, and connected to the conductor loop a clasp that houses a removable battery, and a bead having and internally embedded LED. The prior art necklace disclosed by Kamara is depicted herein in FIGS. 1-3, and is burdened by significant disadvantages. More particularly, the clasp consists of two generally cylindrical pieces require the user to manipulate the pieces into a press fit configuration as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3. The clasp is thus not only difficult to connect, but results in misalignment of the necklace/conductor ends when in the connected configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,933, issued to Ohlund, discloses a jewelry piece having a loop conductor with an LED and a clasp housing a battery. The clasp disclosed by Ohlund has similar disadvantages to that disclosed by Kamara. More particularly, the Ohlund clasp requires the user to make a threaded connection and results in misalignment of the necklace/conductor ends.
Accordingly, there exists a need for illuminated jewelry having an improved clasp that is easily connected and results in alignment of the necklace ends.